The beginning of the Alaska adventure began very smoothly yesterday, from the Super Shuttle ride to the airport, the flight on Alaska Airlines (ok, it was a bit bumpy and I don’t do bumpy), no lines at immigration, taxi to the hotel, etc. We have a nice room on the 16th floor of the Pan Pacific hotel, with a partial inlet view.
After lunch (fish & chips, smoked salmon quesadilla), at a Vancouver brew pub, at the entrance to Gastown, we decided to walk across downtown to Granville Island to visit the amazing public market there. Took a small detour up the Granville Bridge and realized it would be a much longer walk that way, so we backtracked and went over to the base of Hornby St, where we hopped on the Aquabus for the short ride across to the island. After touring the market, eating a butter tart (David), and resting the feet over gelato and coffee, we decided to take the bus back to our hotel. We did have correct change for the bus, but did not know we could not use paper money. The incredibly nice driver waved us on, and so we had a free ride back.
Some views from our afternoon:
Lunch at the brew pub (the beers are brewed in the basement):
Granville market:
The hotel is part of Canada Place, which houses the cruise ship terminal, as well as the IMAX theatre (built for the Canadian Expo in 1986, which we did visit with our 3 then small children). The IMAX was showing a film on Alaska at 6 pm, so that became our introduction to our cruise as well as cocktail hour.
After the show, we walked over to Coal Harbour along the water to have dinner at Cordero’s, which was one of many place recommended by Sheena. I think I chose it mostly for the proximity to our hotel. It was an excellent choice, the ambiance was hip and casual, the food excellent, and in spite of a large crowd, we were lucky to snag a table on the patio. We stayed on our Pacific Rim seafood quest, and had grilled halibut and a stirfry of shellfish and vegetables. When we returned to the hotel, we literally fell into bed.
Dinner at Cordero's
{These could be my last food pictures since I think I promised David I would keep the camera out of the dining rooms on the ship}
Walking back from dinner, David took this shot of Canada Place:
Today we will repack for the cruise, locate the ship’s hospitality suite here in the hotel, and arrange for the bellmen to transport our luggage, which sounds so incredibly easy. The ship sails at 5, I believe we can board around noon, for an early lunch. All I need is some internet access and then this can get posted.
Comments (5)
Sounds like you are off to a great start. And yum, thos food pics are great! Maybe you can sneak the camera into the cruise ship dining room once or twice. :)
Have fun!
Posted by Annie | June 17, 2009 11:57 AM
Posted on June 17, 2009 11:57
Oh Marcia, sounds like you had a great first day. All the food look so delicious. And I love that shot of Canada Place.
Have a great sail!
Posted by candi | June 17, 2009 12:57 PM
Posted on June 17, 2009 12:57
Sounds like a lovely day in Vancouver. You made it to several good sites; Gastown, Pan Pacific and Granville Island.
Posted by Marta | June 17, 2009 7:47 PM
Posted on June 17, 2009 19:47
Ooooh Marcia, thank you so much for posting this! So much fun to be a little fly and catch what you and David are up to. Wow, hide that camera and do take pics on the ship...yippee you're blogging on the cruise, I love it! Have fun.
PS we took the kids to your "hood" today and Aria and my sister had foot massages. I thought of you!
Posted by Barb Cabot | June 17, 2009 8:38 PM
Posted on June 17, 2009 20:38
Oh no! No food photos? I was SO looking forward to seeing the food on the cruise!
Tell David we said Pretty Please...
Posted by nancyhol | June 18, 2009 10:37 PM
Posted on June 18, 2009 22:37